Editor’s note: Today, Sporting News wraps up its look at a handful of programs that have smaller than average 2013 classes and therefore, have work to do in the closing months before national signing day. Nearly one dozen BCS schools have 20 or more commitments, but several traditionally strong programs have less than half that. Oregon, Kansas, Oregon State, Kansas State and Stanford were spotlighted earlier this week, and today Sporting News looks at Penn State.

Penn State has nine players committed for 2013, but obviously its recruiting situation is hardly similar to the other schools scrambling for elite prospects. With the sanctions handed down after the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case, the program is reeling and it has lost a few recruits since the news of the penalties.

Because of that, Sporting News tabs Penn State as the program that has the toughest recruiting job to do in the next five months before national signing day.

The bottom line is this: Even though Penn State has a few more recruits than two schools we previously highlighted—Stanford and Oregon—the Cardinal and Ducks only have the challenge of adding 15 to 20 more quality players to their classes. With the NCAA sanctions requiring Penn State to stay at 15 signees for the next few years, the PSU coaching staff has the unenviable task of trying to identify game-changing players, because they don’t have room to make recruiting mistakes. Each player needs to be a future contributor while other programs have more room for error.

Translation? Penn State has six more class of 2013 slots available and the staff is going to have to make them count.

Because of the NCAA penalties, starting in 2014, the Nittany Lions will have to pick a starting lineup from a roster with 20 fewer scholarship players than its opponents (65 maximum compared to the 85 limit). And the coaching staff will have to attract those quality recruits while admitting there won’t be bowl games for several years. It won’t be an easy sell.

It also doesn’t help that Ohio State and Michigan have become recruiting monsters in the past year, which will have an effect on the Nittany Lions both in Big Ten competition and in regional recruiting.

Adam Breneman, a Sporting News Top 125 player who has stuck with Penn State through the turmoil, believes that head coach Bill O’Brien is the reason this year’s class will be strong and the program will remain intact. Breneman has become the unofficial spokesman for this year’s signing class, and he’s one of four SN125 players who stuck with the Nittany Lions. Garrett Sickels, Christian Hackenberg and Brendon Mahon are the other three.

“I feel bad for Coach O’Brien,” Breneman told Sporting News. “I knew there would be some rough things ahead but never expected this to happen. He’s such an awesome guy and he’s the main reason we have been on board. Coach O’Brien has committed to our recruiting class that he’ll be there for the next four years at least.

“I asked him a while ago if he felt a lot of pressure replacing Joe Paterno, and he said because he had a special needs child, he didn’t feel pressure anymore. If anybody can do this, it’s definitely him.”